Journey of the Balloon

I feel excited as I start to float
I want the whole world to look at me
to see that I can fly
Free to go wherever the wind guides me.
To drift like a current of air
so high it hurts my belly to swell that much
I can reach out with my drawstrings and touch the clouds,
drop my sandbags and all the weights I carry to leave the meadows
past the world
I’ll fly straight through the sky to the edge of the milky way.

The soft morning winds list me through the clouds my basket gently sways
Still the clouds float lazily through the morning air like fluffy balls of cotton
The sweet sounds of the robins perched on my head while I climb so high
away from the delicious smell of roses and wild flowers blooming for the morning
I am a powerful bird
A mermaid gracefully swimming to the depths of the ocean and back
Lighter than the lightest feather
If only it could be like this forever.

But time grows old and the day goes by
I slowly start to sink to the ground
my heavy body is drawn
Good-bye my heaven and to the setting sun’s embers
Your colors are draining and so am I
no more pretty pinks and blues swirling in the sky
To feel how close the earth is beneath me.
so I creep quietly, tie my drawstrings to the posts and wait until tomorrow-
another day of climbing, a new day of adventures beginning.